Pink / Magenta

There are so many plants which steal the show in a way which is more subtle than just big wonderful blooms. Achillea ‘Moonwalker’ is one such plant. Growing to just 60cm tall, the rich green foliage has a fern-like appearance that is just as much the star as those wonderful golden umbels.

Achillea filipendulina ‘Cloth of Gold’ is an easy to grow plant which tolerates a fair amount of neglect which makes it a very versatile plant for use in many situations. It does require full sun for best flower production, but this is little to ask for such a grand reward.

Achillea ‘Cerise Queen’ is a carefree and generously blooming perennial which requires little maintenance to create an explosion of late summer colour. The large, flat-topped clusters of vibrant, pink flowers with tiny white centers are irresistible to butterflies, and also make excellent cut flowers.

Achillea ‘Colorado Mix’ is a compact variety growing to only 60cm (24in) tall at maturity. Flowering in shades of pink, red, yellow, white and apricot, the narrow fern-like foliage will soften your perennial border and the plants are suitable for pots or containers. The flowers are as gorgeous dried as they are fresh.

Achilleas are traditional border flowers valued for their feathery foliage and striking flat, circular heads of flowers ‘F2 Summer Berries’ is a compact variety growing to only 60cm tall at maturity. This beautiful improved mixture includes the richer tones of red, cerise and pink in addition to many pastel shades.

Achillea is a joy to the gardener for its undemanding adaptive nature and its eagerness to perform. ‘Summer Pastels’, with a soft mix of pastel coloured flowers is very easy to grow, flowering in just four months from sowing and producing flowers in abundance from spring to first frosts.

Achillea sibirica var. camtschatica 'Love Parade' is an upright, tufted, perennial yarrow that is native to Siberia. Very different from the common yarrow, with dense clusters of large flat-topped soft pink flowers and glossy, dark green, fern-like leaves, they remain attractive throughout the growing season.

Agastache ‘Arcado Pink’ is a magnificent first year flowering perennial. An extremely floriferous variety with lovely purple-pink flower spikes and fresh green aromatic foliage. This Fleuroselect Novelty Award Winner is both vibrant in colour and stamina. The aromatic leaves are edible, young growth can be sprinkled in salads, used to decorate cakes, to make a tea or floated in drinks. Agastache added to your Pimms lifts it to a higher sphere altogether.

Originally bred by Brian Kabbes and developed in his nursery of ‘perennials and botanical rarities’, Agastache ‘Globetrotter’ has soft, touchable flower spikes that are lilac-pink with carmine-red bracts. Leaves used to decorate cakes, to make a tea or floated in drinks. Added to your Pimms lifts it to a higher sphere altogether. They must have one of the prettiest flowers of all this very pretty family.

Once a common sight, Corncockle bears large, soft purple-pink flowers in the summer. It is a 'cottage garden' plant of old and makes a great wildflower meadow or garden plant. The graceful stems are ideal for cutting and last well in the vase.

Alcea ficifolia is a lesser known perennial hollyhock species native to Siberia, it is a substantially more robust plant than the common hollyhock and unlike the biennial forms which produce a single spire, Alcea ficifolia produce many upright stems emerging from the base, resulting in a bushy form.

Hollyhocks are almost as easy to grow as sunflowers and would probably be grown as often if more gardeners were aware of their good nature. Highly valued for their vigour, reliability, long bloom and upright bushy habit, the 'Henry Vlll' series produces huge, saucer shaped flowers that grow up to 15cm (6in) wide.

Speckled and freckled and striped and stippled, the intricately patterned petals of the Alstroemeria flower are a wonder to behold. Don't be fooled by their delicate appearance, they are one of the worlds' most popular cut flowers, these lily-like flowers are as long lasting as they are gorgeous.

Japanese Anemones are among the best late summer and autumn border flowers. The flowers open from round, silk-covered buds and in summer rain, look like pearls glistening in the border. Blooming from August to late October, they help push the show into autumn and provide colour when most gardens begin to fade.

Antirrhinum majus ‘Appleblossom’ offers soft, pastel-toned blooms in peach, apricot and soft pink that are beautifully blended so that each ruffled flower looks as though it has been delicately hand painted. The densely packed spikes bloom in succession from early summer right through to mid-autumn.

The sentiment that these flowers resemble those of clematis is merely a closest-case comparison, as there is really nothing quite like the flowers of the Aquilegia clematiflora. With extravagantly multi-petalled blooms with starburst points that are quite different from any other columbines.

Emma Nora Barlow was a formidable woman and a granddaughter of Charles Darwin. She enjoyed hybridising plants and gave some seeds to the nurseryman Alan Bloom who named his commercial stock after her. Together they produced a cottage garden classic.

Arabis is a very popular and useful plant and one of the best for the rockery. It is related to Aubrieta and is used in a similar fashion. 'Grandiflora Rosea' is a pink flowered cultivar that makes a good groundcover, it can be used in borders and is excellent for trailing over the edges of containers, over stones or down walls.

Arabis 'Spring Charm' gives masses of bright clusters of rosy-pink flowers. It resembles and is related to Aubrieta and is used in a similar fashion. A good groundcover, it is excellent for trailing over the edges of containers, over stones or down walls.

Easy to grow, undemanding and very long lived, it is no wonder that our little Thrift has been cultivated worldwide as a garden flower. Armeria maritima Splendens is a beautiful dark pink cultivar. With clumps of dark green, evergreen foliage it requires little water and very little maintenance.

Evergreen, undemanding and very long lived, it is no wonder that our little Thrift has been distributed worldwide as a garden flower. With clumps of dark green foliage, and perfect for gravel and rock gardens, it can take light foot traffic and makes a decorative edge along garden paths or down garden steps.

Brugmansia suaveolens, or 'Angel Trumpets' are large shrubs with lush foliage and masses of delightfully fragrant blooms. Often blooming the first year from seed, a mature plant may display as many as 80 to 100 blooms at one time. They can transform a terrace or patio into a tropical paradise.

Calamintha nepeta is a very attractive bushy, perennial that should be in every garden. Clouds of tiny, lilac-mauve flowers appear in early summer and flower continuously from early June right through to late September. The leaves exude a lovely minty scent when crushed and the flowers are true bee pasture.